Mr. Damith Pallewatte is a distinguished banking and risk management professional with over 28 years of experience in the financial services industry. He currently serves as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Hatton National Bank PLC (HNB), one of Sri Lanka’s leading and most respected financial institutions. Before his current role, Mr. Pallewatte held several key leadership positions, including Acting Chief Executive Officer, Deputy General Manager – Wholesale Banking Group, Chief Risk Officer (CRO), and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).

Before joining HNB, he was the Chief Risk Officer at Nations Trust Bank PLC. Mr. Pallewatte holds an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and a BSc (Hons) degree in Management from the London School of Economics, University of London. He holds the designation of Financial Risk Manager conferred by the Global Association of Risk Professionals since 2013, and also a certified Sustainability and Climate Risk manager from the same institution.
He is a Fellow member of the CIMA (UK) and CGMA. In addition to his executive responsibilities at HNB, Mr. Pallewatte serves as the Chairman of HNB Investment Bank, a full-service investment bank, and Chairman of two listed entities in the CSE, Lanka Ventures PLC and LVL Energy Fund PLC. In addition, he serves as a director of Lanka Pay Pvt Ltd, Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd, and the Vice President and Director of the International Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka (ICCSL). He has played an active role in shaping the broader industry landscape through appointments to the MESANA (Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa) Regional Advisory and Engagement Panels of AICPA and CIMA. He has served as Vice Chairman of the CIMA Country Network Committee (Sri Lanka) and Chair of the South Asia Area Committee of CIMA & AICPA covering Sri Lanka, India, and Bangladesh. He is a past president of the CRO Forum, a conclave of Bank CROs, in Sri Lanka.